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American Public Media’s Performance Today® is America’s most popular classical music radio program and a winner of the 2014 Gabriel Award for artistic achievement. The show is broadcast on hundreds of public radio stations across the country, including at 1 p.m. central weekdays on Minnesota Public Radio. More information about our stations can be found at 

Performance Today® features live concert recordings that can’t be heard anywhere else, highlights from new album releases, and in-studio performances and interviews. Performance Today® is based at the APM studios in St. Paul, Minnesota, but is frequently on the road, with special programs broadcast from festivals and public radio stations around the country. Also, each Wednesday, composer Bruce Adolphe joins host Fred Child for a classical musical game and listener favorite: the Piano Puzzler.

Shows

Since 2000, Fred Child has been the host of Performance Today, the most-listened-to classical music radio show in America. He also is the commentator and announcer for Live From Lincoln Center, the only live performing arts series on television. He also hosts musical events on stages around the country, working with major orchestras and festivals, and connecting with audiences coast to coast.


Host

Fred Child

Kathryn Slusher is the senior producer of Performance Today, where she leads programming and production for the show. In her spare time, she enjoys the vibrant Twin Cities music and theater scene, and loves to read, hike and spend time with her family.


Senior Producer

Kathryn Slusher

As a Producer for Performance Today, Meghann chooses music to broadcast on the show, writes web articles and scripts, facilitates, conducts and edits interviews, creates video content and manages PT’s social media pages. She created Performance Today’s Black History Spotlight Series and the My Name is Series to highlight Black classical musicians. Meghann is also the producer for the PT Young Artist in Residence Series. In her free time, she is a mom, a part-time actress and fashion lover.

Meghann also created and hosted “Wondrous Strange”, a national radio program about uncommon musical instruments, she is the official underwriting voice for ‘The New York Times’ The Daily, and she can occasionally be heard guest-hosting Performance Today.


Producer

Meghann Oglesby

As an Associate Producer for Performance Today, Kathleen Bradbury writes scripts and assists with external communications. In her spare time, she likes to read fiction, lift heavy weights at the gym, and frolic about in nature. But above all else, Kathleen loves to sing Broadway showtunes--much to the delight of her wife, her infant son, and her rescue dog.


Kathleen Bradbury

Jon Gohman is an associate producer for Performance Today. He is responsible for various behind-the-scenes functions, including liaising with artists and creating materials for national distribution. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, playing the guitar, and thinking about Langrange points.


Associate Producer

Jon Gohman

Craig Thorson is the Technical Director for Performance Today. In addition to mastering the live music recordings that are programmed for each daily program, he records guest performances and interviews. Craig enjoys skiing, tennis, and bicycling, and boating.


Technical Director

Craig Thorson

Jeanne Barron is the technical producer of Performance Today.


Technical Producer

YourClassical MPR

Jeanne Barron

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Performance Today

On Wednesday's Performance Today, pianist Mitsuko Uchida plays a quietly dramatic piano concerto by Mozart in concert with the Cleveland Orchestra.


Performance Today®

A quietly dramatic piano concerto

Today is the 150th anniversary of the birth of the great Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. On Tuesday's Performance Today, join us for Sibelius celebration! We'll mark the occasion by hearing from recent Sibelius concert from all around the world.


musicaimmagine.it

Happy Birthday, Sibelius!

During World War I, Edward Elgar composed almost nothing. About this he said, "I cannot do any real work with this awful shadow hanging over us." But in the summer of 1918, he began writing a Cello Concerto. On Monday's Performance Today, we'll hear that piece from a concert in Bergen, Norway.


Wikimedia Commons

Elgar's Cello Concerto

When Alexi Kenney was a boy, his aspirations were modest; he wanted to play the tambourine or the triangle. His mother got him thinking in a different direction, however. On this weekend's Performance Today, talented violinist Alexi Kenney will join Fred in the studio as our newest Young Artist in Residence.


Nate Ryan / APM

From tambourine to violin

We sent our Young Artist in Residence, violinist Alexi Kenney, to play for 75 kids ages 5 to 8. Kenney said it was great; the kids' reactions to music were so pure, and he got the star treatment - the kids all lined up for autographs at the end of his performance. We'll hear more from Kenney on Friday's Performance Today, when he joins Fred in the studio for day three of his PT residency.


The star treatment

Recently, American violinist Joshua Bell called Alexander Glazunov's Violin Concerto "real juicy violin stuff." On Thursday's Performance Today, we'll take a musical trip to Cincinnati to hear Bell play that very concerto in concert with the Cincinnati Symphony.


Bill Phelps

Juicy violin stuff

When Alexi Kenney was a boy, his aspirations were modest; he wanted to play the tambourine or the triangle. His mother got him thinking in a different direction, however. On Wednesday's Performance Today, we'll meet talented violinist Alexi Kenney, our newest Young Artist in Residence.


Violinist Alexi Kenney

Alexi Kenney Interview Part 1

Alexi Kenney Interview Part 2

Alexi Kenney Interview Part 3

Listen to in-studio interviews with host Fred Child and exclusive musical performances by violinist Alexi Kenney and pianist Renana Gutman.


Freds Favorites

Young Artist in Residence: Alexi Kenney

Hector Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique is one part tender love song, one part crazy paranoid hallucination. On Tuesday's Performance Today, we have highlights from this unusual piece on the way from a concert in Cincinnati.


All Episodes